The invention relates to a fiber-optic plug connector, intended to interact with a mating connector or with another female connection element such as, for example, a coupler intended to form the junction between two plugs placed face to face.
The mating connector may equally well be a passive mating connector, that is to say one containing only optical elements, or an active mating connector, that is to say one containing an electrooptical component, photoemitter or photodetector, used for converting the optical signal transmitted by the optical fiber into an electrical signal, or vice versa.
In general, these plugs are made in the form of a composite unit formed by several assembled pieces, with a dismountable metal body (for allowing the fiber to be fitted) and a rapid locking system of the bayonet or quarter-turn ring type (for allowing the plug to be locked onto the mating connector, the latter actually being provided with corresponding studs used for this locking). Furthermore, it is necessary for the fiber to be held axially in pressure against the element with which it is to be coupled (for example against the lens of the electrooptical component), and the plug comprises for this purpose an incorporated spring system allowing this axial pressure force to be exerted permanently once the plug has been fitted and locked onto the mating connector.
This construction of the plug in several parts, with its system for mounting the fiber, its metal casing, its locking ring, its spring system, etc., although ensuring excellent holding of the plug on the mating connector, is nevertheless complex and therefore expensive to produce.
It is very well suited when it is necessary to produce connections with a very high safety level (measurement appliances, devices located in an industrial environment, for example), or which must make it possible to carry out a very large number of connection/disconnection operations in a reliable manner.
In the case of mass-produced devices, where the unit cost price of the connection unit is an essential factor, it greatly increases the costs, however and even becomes prohibitive for many applications, where plugs which can be produced in a large number and at a very low price might be desired.
One of the objects of the invention is to overcome the limitations of plugs of the prior art, by providing a fiber-optic plug connector which can be engaged on a mating connector, which can be mass produced at a very low cost, highly advantageously in the form of a monobloc element made of plastic directly molded over the fiber termination to be equipped.